IPO News | Voice Holdings (688036.SH) reports that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ranks first in mobile phone sales in the world's emerging markets

The Zhitong Finance App learned that, according to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's disclosure on December 2, Shenzhen Communication Holdings Co., Ltd. (688036.SH for short) submitted a statement to the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with CITIC Securities as its sole sponsor. According to Frost & Sullivan, in terms of 2024 mobile phone sales, Communication Holdings' mobile phone products ranked first in the world's emerging markets, with a market share of 24.1%.

According to the prospectus, Voice Holdings is the world's leading provider of smart terminal products and mobile internet services. The company is mainly engaged in the design, R&D, production, sales and brand operation of smart terminal products centered on mobile phones. With the mobile phone business, the company has established brand awareness among a wide and growing user base, thereby extending to mobile Internet services, IoT products and other products, and building an ecological chain of products, services and brands.

Since its establishment in 2013, Communication Holdings has been deeply involved in emerging markets represented by Africa. With leading market share and extensive brand influence, the company is known as the “King of Africa” in the mobile phone industry. Based on its deep insight into user needs accumulated in the African market, the company was able to replicate successful examples in different emerging markets. Communication Holdings has achieved leading market positions in major emerging markets and even the global market.

The following are the business highlights of Communication Holdings:

The company mainly provides smartphones under three brands: TECNO: focuses on high-end design for middle and high-end consumers; Infinix: fashion design for young consumers; and itel: emphasizes cost performance and reliability for mass market consumers. In addition to mobile phones, Communication Holdings' products and services also include mobile Internet services, IoT products, and other IoT products.

According to Frost & Sullivan, in terms of 2024 mobile phone sales, Communication Holdings ranked first in Africa, with a market share of 61.5%. The African market is in the transition phase from feature phones to smartphones. During the track record period, the company's smartphone sales in the African market continued to rise, mainly due to the company's extensive brand influence in the African market and the ability of the company's mobile phone products to meet the needs of the local market; economic development and consumption upgrades in Africa driving local consumers to buy smartphones; and the strong sales volume of the company's feature phones, which laid a solid foundation for its transition to smartphones.

Communication Holdings has secured and enduring market positions in all major emerging markets as well as global markets. Among them, according to Frost & Sullivan, in terms of 2024 mobile phone sales, the company also ranked first in the emerging Asia-Pacific market and the Middle East, with market shares of 15.4% and 22.8% respectively.

Financial data

revenue

In 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 for the six months ended June 30, the company recorded revenue of 46.596 billion yuan (RMB, same below), 62.295 billion yuan, 68.715 billion yuan and 29.077 billion yuan respectively. During the track record period, the company generated most of its revenue from the sale of mobile phones.

Gross profit and gross profit margin

In 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 for the six months ended June 30, the company recorded gross profit of $9.255 billion, $14.44 billion, $14.341 billion and $5,533 billion respectively, with corresponding gross margins of 19.9%, 23.2%, 20.9% and 19.0%, respectively.

Profit for the year/period

In 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 for the six months ended June 30, the company recorded annual/period profits of $2,467 billion, $5.587 billion, $5.597 billion and $1,242 billion respectively.

Industry Overview

Since 2010, when mobile phones became widely popular and mobile Internet technology became more mature, the global mobile phone market and mobile Internet service market have shown strong growth and continued transformation. In 2024, the global mobile phone market reached 0.5 trillion US dollars, and is expected to reach 0.6 trillion US dollars in 2029. The compound annual growth rate from 2024 to 2029 is 4.6%.

The development of mobile phones is also driving the development of mobile internet. In 2024, the global mobile internet service market is 2.9 trillion US dollars, and is expected to reach 7.6 trillion US dollars in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 21.5% from 2024 to 2029.

In 2024, the mobile internet penetration rate in emerging markets was 46%, which is lower than the level of developed markets, and is expected to rise further to 53% by 2029. The steady increase in mobile Internet penetration rate indicates that the mobile phone market and mobile Internet service market have huge potential for growth. As more and more users connect to the Internet through mobile devices, the demand for smartphone upgrades and diversified mobile Internet services will continue to expand.

In terms of revenue, the mobile phone market in emerging markets grew from US$134.4 billion in 2020 to US$171.1 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.2% from 2020 to 2024. The market size is expected to further increase to US$236.7 billion by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.7% from 2024 to 2029. In the mobile phone market, the smartphone segment is expected to grow from US$168.3 billion in 2024 to US$234.9 billion in 2029, and the compound annual growth rate will accelerate to 6.9% from 2024 to 2029.

In terms of sales, the smartphone market size in emerging markets grew from 624.6 million units in 2020 to 648.5 million units in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 0.9% from 2020 to 2024. Sales are expected to reach 725.3 million units by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 2.3% from 2024 to 2029. Africa is expected to be the fastest-growing region during this period, with smartphone sales increasing from 86.7 million units in 2024 to 110.0 million units in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.9%.

The mobile internet service market in emerging markets grew from US$419.5 billion in 2020 to US$848.1 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.2% during this period. Looking ahead, the market is expected to grow further to US$2,788.3 billion in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 26.9% from 2024 to 2029.

As network infrastructure in emerging markets continues to improve and cross-scene connectivity technology becomes more advanced, IoT products can be applied to various scenarios such as homes, travel, and workplaces. The market size of IoT products in emerging markets grew from US$81 billion in 2020 to US$135.5 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 13.7%. It is expected to increase further to US$328.4 billion by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.4% from 2024 to 2029. With the continuous advancement of AI technology, IoT products are developing in the direction of cross-device and cross-scenario integration, enabling data sharing and functional collaboration between different products. This development will further enhance the user experience and support continued market growth.

Board Information

The board of directors will be composed of 10 directors, including 6 executive directors and 4 independent non-executive directors.

Shareholding structure

Through Communication Investment, Mr. Zhu Zhaojiang holds 46.71% of the shares, CSAML holds 6.22% of the shares, Beijing Chuanjiali holds 5.39% of the shares, and the other A-share shareholders together hold 41.68% of the shares.

Communication Investment is an employee shareholding platform established before the A-share listing, and is not aimed at merging control of the company to Mr. Zhu. According to the Articles of Association of Communication Investments, although Mr. Zhu only holds 20.68% of the shares, he has the right to exercise 67.00% of the voting rights. Therefore, according to the Securities and Futures Regulations, Mr. Zhu is considered to have an interest in shares held by Chuanyin Investment.

The shares in question are held by CSAML for and on behalf of Digimoc Holdings Limited, while CSAML is an asset management account for financial products, established to invest in A-shares, and Digimoc Holdings Limited provides all capital.

According to Beijing Chuanjiali's limited partnership agreement, Beijing Chuanjiali's decisions must be decided by the limited partners at the partner meeting, and each limited partner has one vote regardless of ownership. When carrying out Beijing Chuanjiali's business, general partners must abide by the decisions reached at the partner meeting.

According to the director's knowledge, as of the last practical date, none of the relevant A-share shareholders held more than 5% of the company's rights.

Intermediary team

Sole sponsor: CITIC Securities (Hong Kong) Limited.

Financial Advisor: J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited.

Company Legal Adviser: Regarding Hong Kong and US law: Pu Heng Law Firm (Hong Kong) Limited Liability Partnership; relating to Chinese law: Shanghai AllBright (Shenzhen) Law Firm.

Sole sponsor legal advisors: relating to Hong Kong and US law: Gao Weishen Law Firm; relating to Chinese law: Jingtian Gongcheng Law Firm.

Independent Auditor and Reporting Accountant: Tianjian International Certified Public Accountants Limited.

Industry consultant: Frost & Sullivan (Beijing) Consulting Co., Ltd. Shanghai Branch.

Compliance Advisor: Red Sun Capital Co., Ltd.